Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1328: Sword Pointed at Kuaiji

Conquering Jiangdong was definitely the most important step in the great cause of unifying the world, and its significance was even greater than that of conquering Northern Qi.

After all, the division between the East and the West lasted much shorter than that between the North and the South, and the East and the West were of the same origin. As long as some stubborn elements within the upper ruling class of the Northern Qi Dynasty were eliminated, the integration of the middle and lower class scholars and people would be much smoother.

However, the situation in the north and the south is just the opposite. There is no shortage of people in the upper echelons of the Southern Dynasty who are able to judge the situation or change their stance according to the wind, but the middle and lower classes are more stubborn in their obsession with Jiangdong's autonomy and have an instinctive resistance to the power of the Northern Dynasty. The Hou Jing Rebellion a few years ago further aggravated this demonized perception and stereotype.

Li Tai considered it his duty to unify the world, and naturally had a series of ideas about conquering Jiangdong, including the use of force. However, he did not regard the Chen regime in the southeast of Jiangdong as a hostile foreign country, and all he wanted was to pacify Jiangdong with the least casualties.

Previously, he supported Chen Chang to return to Jiangdong to succeed the throne, which was one of the measures he took under this idea. He hoped that the Southern Chen regime headed by Chen Chang could maintain a superficial peace in Jiangdong, and that the Tang Dynasty could gradually infiltrate and increase its influence on the current situation in Jiangdong with the help of the Southern Chen court, so as to reduce the resistance of the people in Jiangdong as much as possible.

This plan went relatively smoothly in the early stages. The Tang Dynasty and Southern Chen were strengthening cooperation in all aspects, the flow of personnel and materials between them was very smooth, and they got along very happily.

However, as the situation developed, the shortcomings of this model became apparent. The Tang Dynasty's influence on the Jiangdong region in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River has always been concentrated in its capital Jiankang area, and it has been difficult to radiate to other regions, especially the Three Wu regions in the core of Jiangdong. Instead of deepening their understanding and goodwill towards the Tang Dynasty, they have become more and more resistant and resistive.

This situation was largely caused by Chen Chang's incompetence, especially his repeated indulgence of Chen Qian, or his complete inability to control him. The close alliance between the Tang Dynasty and the Southern Chen court not only failed to resolve the hostility of the people of the Three Wus, but instead became a tool for Chen Qian to stir up trouble and gather power in the Three Wus.

Since the Tang Dynasty still had to maintain its alliance with the Southern Chen court, it was difficult for it to directly intervene in the affairs of the Three Wus without the Southern Chen court's permission, which made the anti-Tang atmosphere in the Three Wus increasingly strong. This alliance and cooperation between the two sides was not only useless, but also became a burden.

Therefore, when the turmoil in Lingbiao affected the Tang Dynasty's personnel arrangements on the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the Tang Dynasty simply used the name of Southern Chen seeking help and returned Nanchuan to Southern Chen in exchange for gaining space for independent activities in Guizhou in Lingbiao.

However, apart from maintaining an alliance with the Southern Chen court, the Tang Dynasty could not find a better way to intervene in the situation in Jiangdong for the time being. Especially after the war in the north came to an end and the country entered a stage of recuperation, the conditions for directly deploying large-scale troops in Jiangdong were not yet ripe.

As the monarch of Southern Chen, although Chen Chang was deeply dependent on the Tang Dynasty, from his own standpoint, he still maintained necessary vigilance and caution towards the Tang Dynasty. It was impossible for him to completely give up his bottom line and allow the Tang Dynasty's forces to enter Jiangdong and stir up trouble.

Under such circumstances, if the Tang Dynasty did not send troops across the river directly, it would be difficult for it to find a new way to intervene in the situation in Jiangdong. Xu Du, the military leader of the Southern Chen Dynasty, who was stationed in an important town on the Jiangbei coast, chose to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, which undoubtedly provided an excellent choice.

If the Tang Dynasty controlled Jingkou, then the entire series of river defense lines from upstream to downstream would be under their control, and the Tang Dynasty would therefore have absolute strategic and tactical initiative. It would no longer be a question of pacifying Jiangdong, the only difference was whether it would be done sooner or later.

  Of course, this incident would inevitably arouse the vigilance of Chen Chang and the Southern Chen court, and even some extreme reactions. Apart from anything else, Chen Chang's father, Chen Baxian, had previously marched westward from Jingkou and killed Wang Sengbian. Now that the Tang Dynasty has bypassed the Southern Chen court and directly controlled Jingkou, what exactly the Tang Dynasty is trying to do is simply unimaginable!

Therefore, this incident will definitely affect the diplomatic relations between the Tang Dynasty and the Southern Chen Dynasty. However, compared with the more tactical options obtained after controlling Jingkou, there is no need to worry too much about how the emperor and his ministers of Chen Chang will react to this.

Especially now that Li Tai has received the big rocket from the Buddhas, he has the confidence to further use force. His ability to respond to subsequent changes in the situation in Southern Chen has also improved. Naturally, the pace can be faster, and he no longer needs to make too many foresights and trade-offs.

So after knowing this, Li Tai did not blame Ruofeng for acting on his own. After all, Jingkou, an important city of the Southern Dynasty, was right in front of him, and it would be difficult for him to ignore anyone who had any intentions towards Jiangdong.

There was just one thing that made him feel quite amused. He had never met Xu Du, but he had followed Chen Baxian for many years, so he must be quite old. Now he wanted to be on good terms with Ruo Ruofeng. Li Tai couldn't help laughing when he thought of that scene. Putting aside these funny ideas, in order to avoid any further changes in the situation, Li Tai quickly made decisions and made various arrangements.

He first sent his men to Guangling to inform the Fengs to deepen their interaction with Xu Du, and on the premise of both sides being open and honest, to dispatch troops and occupy Jingkou as soon as possible. After occupying Jingkou, there was no need to take any further actions for the time being, and they had to wait for further instructions from the court.

At the same time, in order to prevent Jiankang from overreacting or taking extreme actions, Li Tai sent a message to Hezhou Governor Quan Jingxuan, ordering him to lead the upstream navy and soldiers south to Dongguan and station at Ruxukou, so as to maintain a military deterrent against Jiankang upstream.

Although Li Tai was not quite clear about the deployment of troops in Jiankang, he had already lured out a part of Jiankang's troops by returning Nanchuan. In addition, Chen Chang had previously sent Wu Mingche to lead an army to Wujun to quell the rebellion, so the garrison in Jiankang must not be too many, and the possibility of the Southern Chen court directly using force to resist was not great.

Li Tai did not want to completely break off relations with the Southern Chen court right now, so after making arrangements for troops to cross the river and use force to deter, he arranged for envoys to go to Jiankang to inform the monarch and ministers of Chen Chang that this series of actions by the Tang Dynasty was not aimed at the Southern Chen court, but had another target, that is, Hou Andu, the governor of Dongyangzhou of the Southern Chen who was now stationed in Kuaiji.

Hou Andu had a long-standing grudge against the Tang Dynasty. During the previous peace talks between the East and the West, he violated the agreement and attacked the Qi army, which added twists and turns to the peace talks. Later, Chen Baxian placed Hou Andu in Kuaiji, and Li Tai did not investigate further at that time.

There are many anti-Tang voices in the Southern Chen Dynasty, and Hou Andu is one of the more active ones among them. Moreover, the Kuaiji where he is stationed is connected to Wuzhong in the north and Fujian and Zhejiang in the south. He is also one of the founding members of the Southern Chen Dynasty under the command of Chen Baxian, the first emperor. Once the battle to pacify Jiangdong begins, he will be a more difficult target.

Therefore, Li Tai now regards Hou Andu as the first target to be attacked and designates him as the target of this series of military operations.

The reason why Chen Qian was not designated was because Li Tai had said before that he would forgive Chen Qian after the Nanchuan incident, and as the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, he could not go back on his word. In addition, Wuxing, where Chen Qian was entrenched, was relatively sensitive and should not be directly targeted for military strikes. However, if Kuaiji was chosen as the target, Wuxing would not be able to escape, and the rhetoric would be more acceptable.

Therefore, Li Tai sent an envoy to Jiankang to inform Chen Chang and his ministers that Hou Andu had a deep hatred for the Tang Dynasty and had a long history of bad deeds. Now he was sheltering the remaining Northern Qi bandits in Qingzhou, and he was also ordering his soldiers to intercept and plunder Tang merchant ships traveling to and from Lingnan. He was truly guilty of heinous crimes, and the Tang Dynasty would send troops to kill him!

I don’t know whether Chen Changxin believes this reason or not, but even if he doesn’t believe it, it won’t make him happy.

The Tang Dynasty had shot the arrow and there was no turning back. It was determined to push this military action to the end. Even if Chen Chang turned against the Tang Dynasty completely because of this, he could not expect the troops from the Three Wu regions to come to his aid. These people even hoped that Chen Chang would fight the Tang Dynasty to death, so that they could legitimately follow Chen Qian and continue to fight against the Tang Dynasty.

At the same time, targeting Hou Andu can also effectively divide the resistance forces in the Three Wus. Not everyone understands the principle of the loss of lips and teeth. Hou Andu is constantly courting death, thus angering the Tang Dynasty, causing the Tang army to launch a massive attack and vow to kill him. What kind of friendship do you have with Hou Andu that is worth risking your life for this?

It is conceivable that as this situation spread to the Three Wu regions, it would inevitably cause a split in public sentiment. Of course, it is not ruled out that some people saw through the Tang Dynasty's sinister intentions and realized that the Tang army's goal was the entire Jiangdong region rather than just Hou Andu, and the only way out was to unite and resist to the end. However, there must be some people who were lucky enough to resist, and their fighting spirit was not strong enough, and even wanted to offer Hou Andu to calm things down.

  For the Tang Dynasty, this incident can be used to identify who are the targets that can be won over for united front work, and who are the diehards that must be eliminated in the process of pacifying Jiangdong!

Of course, this is not just a simple reason, but also a plan that the Tang Dynasty will implement next. Li Tai did not choose to cross the river directly to attack, but first built up momentum to intensify the contradictions within the Southern Chen Dynasty, and at the same time further integrate the forces that can be deployed to Jiangdong for battle.

He also sent a message to Li Xun, who was fighting in Guizhou in Lingbiao, asking him to suspend his attempt to advance into Lingnan after ending the battle in Guizhou, and to leave a part of his troops to guard Guizhou in cooperation with Li Qianzhe, the governor of Xiangzhou, and the rest of the troops to quickly return to the vicinity of Ganjiang River and join Shi Ning, who was still staying in Jiangzhou, to go east along Zhejiang along the northern foot of Wuyi Mountain to attack Kuaiji.